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Monday, August 31, 2015

We had another HAPPY weekend here. Connor and I had friends come visit us from Delaware. It was so nice to see them! I know I've said this a million times, but it is so true. We are so glad that we moved to NY, but we miss out Delaware friends so much. I wish we could find a way to shorten the drive between those two states!

I saw a meme on facebook saying there was only 4 more months till Christmas. What??!!! Where did this year go? The stores here are already starting to put out Christmas decorations. It just blows my mind. I'm glad we are getting an early start on holiday card this year.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

I have a quick card for you today. I try to make at least one non-coloring card a month. It can be a challenge for me. I just love color! I think that is why I love this card so much. This card is full of color. I love the elegance and simplicity of small flowers.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

This card is a little challenging. I broke family groups and blended colors together that we don't normally do. If this is your first time trying this. I suggest practicing on a scrap piece of paper. Just draw an oval and try to mimic the look. You can also adjust the colors to your liking. You could just make a blue fish and pink fish, if you wanted to make this simple. It took some time playing around with this, but I think the end was worth it.

Monday, August 24, 2015

I never thought today would come! This card has been in the works for weeks and weeks. I colored up this adorable House Mouse image...and then got stuck. I really wanted to get finished into a card. I had some ideas, but each one fizzed out. In the end, I kept it simple. What do you think? What song do you think they are playing?

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

I'm swimming by with another Mermaid card today. I might be totally addicted to Mermaids. I can't explain it, but their magic keeps drawing me back. My husband caught me buying another Mermaid image and he asked...."You have about three Mermaid stamps now, right?" With a huge, guilty smile on my face, I replied "Yep". I was busted. He promptly asked "How many do you have?". I had to think quick..... the best I could come up with was... "There are plenty of fish in Sea". Thankfully he thought this was funny and totally distracted him. WHOOO-HOOO!! Situation avoided!!

Monday, August 17, 2015

It has been a long while since I made a bookmark card. I really like this style of card. We spend so much time coloring these beautiful images. It is nice to think that they can be functional as well as beautiful.

As always I suggest you laminate your bookmark to protect against fingerprints. I can't stress that enough. I didn't laminate this one... and you can see a fingerprint smudge in some of the photos. It breaks my heart. You can write a message to back to preserve your sentiments as well!

Friday, August 14, 2015

I wanted to sneak one more post in this week. I thought I had posted this card weeks ago. Somehow this guy escaped the line-up. I checked him off my list. It was pointed out by one of my students that it was missing from the blog. So sorry! He is too cute not to share!

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Today is Throwback Thursday. I've been slowly cleaning out my crafting desk. I keep finding all sorts of goodies. I made this card about two years ago... I don't know how, but I forgot about it and it was lost in a pile of stuff. I was so glad when I found it. This mouse is so cute!

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Lisa from Lila Grey asked me to do a monthly feature on her blog. Each month, we will feature a flower. This month we are celebrating Asters! I'll share my tips and tricks for coloring with copics.

Asters are a beautiful flower. I love Lisa's rendering of this flower, but it does pose a few challenges for copic artists. The petals are really narrow. If you are familiar with copics then you know they like to bleed. To help prevent the ink from wandering on the card stock I colored this image from dark to light. I also recommend coloring one petal at a time. Purples tend to be a little harder to blend than other colors in the spectrum. Working while the ink is wet will help smooth out harsh lines. I used BV17, V17, V15, V12 to color this flower. I added the BV17 to help darken up the petals near the center of the flower. It adds a bit more contrast to the petals. However, you are new copics, I suggest leaving out the BV17. It will help making the blending process easier. If you have any questions about using copics please feel free to email me chris@purplelakestamps.com. If you are looking for an advanced copic flower class, please check out this tutorial.

Copics used:

Purple: BV17, V17, V15, V12

Green: G02, G16, YG67 (not a natural blend, but they work beautifully together)

Monday, August 10, 2015

My Mom loves to cook. As a kid, I didn't always appreciate all the unique options that we were presented with. As an adult, I'm come to appreciate lot of different styles of foods. A weekend or so ago she made Ratatouille. From what I understand, it is a challenge to make well. She did a great job! It was delicious.

I was inspired to ink up this stamp called Ratatouille. Inspired to also try something new. I pulled out a few new coloring combinations to get the purple and green. I listed them below and also put alternate colors if you are looking something more traditional.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

I wanted to play with a background stamp today. I have a bunch of them and sadly they do not get used as much as they should. They are so pretty and versatile. I just don't think to use them. This rose background had a lot of detail so I thought it would look nice embossed. I sponged some blue ink in the center of each rose. I was just going to put the Hello sentiment on the front... but it just wasn't enough. I played around for a while but this butterfly was perfect. This card will not fit in a standard envelope, but it is fine with me!

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

I've got something a bit cheesy for you. I taught several "Intro to Copic" classes in the last month. They are my favorite class to teach. I love watching people discover the magic of these markers. I created this card because it is easy, but still has personality!

Copics:
Yellow: Y11, Y13, Y15, Y17 (you can also add Y35)
Blue: B00, B01, B04,
flame: Y13, YR12
Orange: YR12
Grey: W3, W1
I glued sequins on the card, but you can leave them off if you like.

Monday, August 3, 2015

You Can Never Have Too Much Happy was the theme of this weekend. Connor and I embarked on a 3 day, 750 mile road trip to visit friends and to attend two weddings. It was a whirlwind of weekend, but it was filled with HAPPY. It was really nice to see our friends from Delaware. We miss and think about them often. I'm so glad we were able to share in their happiness as they start their marriage together. Then the next day we attended Connor's cousin's wedding. It was exhausting and really neat to attend two wedding ceremonies back to back. They were both so different and special in their own way.

I've already posted the wedding cards I made for each of them...so I thought I'd share this cutie today.